Can't get enough TreeHugger? Sign up now and have it sent straight to your inbox.

Daily and Weekly newsletters available.

Lloyd Alter

Writer / Toronto, Canada

Lloyd Alter is design editor of TreeHugger. He has been an architect, developer, inventor and prefab promoter. He contributes to MNN.com, The Guardian, Azure and Corporate Knights magazines, and is Adjunct Professor teaching sustainable design at Ryerson University School of Interior Design. Lloyd is a Past President of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.

In the course of his work developing small residential units and prefabs, Lloyd became convinced that we just use too much of everything- too much space, too much land, too much food, too much fuel, too much money, and that the key to sustainability is to simply use less. And, the key to happily using less is to design things better.

Latest Stories from Lloyd Alter - Page 668

If you are in Toronto tomorrow visit Some Sound Ideas- a few ecological art, design, fashion and food solutions. Suzanne McKeag makes picture frames from "Green MDF" finished with non-VOC paints.::Magneadesign Silvana Bruni, who is also a drummer, uses

We often fret about what is growing in our sink; Jean-Michel Gauvreau revels in it. He designs magnificent Zen Garden Sinks where the waste water feeds the plants growing alongside. Plant some spearmint and you can make your own toothpaste. ::Gau

We often make fun of ethanol as a less-than-zero sum game, but people keep trying. In the forest, Shitake mushrooms produce an enzyme that dissolves wood, turning it into sugars that they feed on and creating rich soil. In the lab, scientists at the US

What do you do with your old lightbulbs when they burn out? (and you replace them with compact fluorescents, of course...) You could save them to stomp on at Jewish weddings or you can throw them out, or you could paint them and make charming tree

Here is yet another great bicycle calendar from the Community Bicycle Network. The best entries in a poster competition have been printed "by our friends at Warren's Waterless Printing on recycled paper through their patented waterless process" as a

We have advertiser supported garbage cans in our city (um, what do we pay taxes for?) usually banal and about real estate or public service announcements. However we had to shoot a crappy Treo picture of the new World Wildlife Fund campaign to eliminate

Many stars and performers talk the talk about the environment, but Sarah Harmer walks the walk- literally. She spent last summer on the Niagara Escarpment, the 725 kilometer ridge running from Niagara to Tobermorey in Ontario. This supposedly protected

"The Sauna Box is dialectical investigation of the common shipping container and traditional sauna. Through this tension it addresses built environment issues – minimum impact, sustainability, and presents them in an accessible, usable form." -prefab

Who says environmentalists don't have a sense of humour? The Toronto Environmental Alliance is hosting its 15th annual Ecobunk awards. "Our annual fundraiser and comedy show pokes fun at the most outrageous
corporate green advertising of 2005.

For those who wonder why Treehugger likes modern prefab so much, here is the answer. We think people can live with less and don't need so much space. We think prefabrication generates less waste and more opportunities for greener construction methods

We are fascinated by Google Zeitgeist, the unimpeachable electronic trend-spotter. It is usually like watching a train wreck but often tidbits show up- like Tofurkey at number 3. What could cause such interest in a vegetarian turkey substitute? Perhaps

We have been expecting this- bamboo as lumber replacement. "Due to recent technological advancements, it is now possible to convert raw bamboo culms into more conventional lumber and plywood such that it can be used to build virtually anything that

When Peter Drucker died a few weeks ago, we thought about the number of times we tried and failed to finish his masterwork "Management: Tasks and Responsibilities" and yet how much we loved his essays in "Adventures of a Bystander" where he discusses

When you visit the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis you can see a show on Andy Warhol, or you can take in a major exhibition of Modern Prefab that runs until March 26. (We don't know if you can see Geoffrey Warner's Wee House as Warhol might have

Kirsten Muenster designs and produces eco-friendly jewellery out of "materials whose sources do not exploit slave labour nor support corrupt organizations." It is all custom made and one-of-a-kind, so don't wait too long before ordering....::Kirsten

In 1906 an earthquake was reputed to have destroyed San Francisco- others said a fire did it, yet others said that gratuitous use of dynamite to create firebreaks destroyed more than the actual earthquake; that only 500 people died or 3000 people died;

Tim Haab makes an interesting point in Environmental Economics comparing the prices of gifts on Treehugger to roughly comparable items at Toy's R Us. We point out that Treehugger has entire categories of Gifts under $25, Gifts under $15, and our new

Eighty years ago one had to own "the five foot shelf of books"- The Harvard Classics. Content was 100% Dead White Males, but it had everything a Gentleman needed to have read to hold a conversation at the club or cocktail party. The 21st century version,